LOWER BURRELL (KDKA) — It was a somber night in Lower Burrell as the community came together to remember and memorialize a high school athlete who suddenly collapsed at football practice and later died.

Noah Cornuet’s Burrell High School classmates gathered on the football field for a candlelight vigil for their friend Thursday night.

“It was just such a tragedy and we’ll just never be the same,” Pam Cornuet, Noah’s mom.

When a tragedy strikes at the heart of the Burrell community, they come together for support.

Hundreds of people, mostly students, gathered at the high school to mourn the 16-year-old and to try, in some way, to comfort his grief-stricken family.

“They’re behind us, they’ve stuck with us and they just love us, and we didn’t realize how much our son was loved by this community,” said Ray Cornuet, Noah’s father.

Noah died Wednesday at football practice. The cause of death, officials say was Atrial Myxoma, a heart tumor. It’s a condition Noah didn’t even know he had.

The vigil was organized by his friends who knew they had to memorialize the popular football player, wrestler and scout.

“We’re just mourning the loss of the life he would have had, ’cause all we really wanted was for him to grow up and be a successful member of society,” said Noah’s mom. “Somebody who, even if he pumped gas, we didn’t care, as long as he got up every day and went to work and helped others.”